Essay on "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant

In Guy de Maupassant’s short story “The Necklace” the protagonist, Madame Loisel, is a dynamic character because she moves from a woman who places appearance and status above all else to a figure that puts value into hard work. When Madame Loisel is first introduced by the narrator she is described as “One of those pretty and charming girls born, as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of artisans… She grieved incessantly, feeling that she had been born for all the little niceties and luxuries of living. She suffered from the poorness of her house, from its mean walls, worn chairs, and ugly curtains. All these things, of which other women of her class would not even have been aware, tormented and insulted her”.

Since that is beyond Mathilde’s social reach the only way to escape that status is through marriage. Yet she let herself be married off to a “little clerk in the Ministry of Education”. This developed more of the discontent in her current rank. Despite this, Monsieur Loisel is still tolerant of her behavior and wants to please her. Her excessive pride, materialism and shallowness cause her emotional torture to herself when she feels deprived of luxuries.

Upon finding out that both she and her husband are invited to the palace, “Instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped she threw the invitation on the table,” (Maupassant 555). Mathilde does not appreciate the invitation and instead starts worrying about her lack of proper dress, or in this case her lack of an expensive dress to wear. Her poor husband had trouble getting an invitation in the first place, and only wanted one because he thought Mathilde would be happy, “But my dear, I thought you would be glad. You never go out, and this is such a fine opportunity. I had awful trouble to get it. Everyone wants to go; it is very select, and they are not giving many invitations to clerks,” (Maupassant 555). Her husband only wants what’s best for her and couldn’t care less about going to the palace, he only wants to go because he thought his wife would like the change of scenery. This shows that the husband loves Mathilde dearly and would do anything for her. He further proves his loyalty and love by sacrificing the money he put aside for himself to buy a gun, to buy Mathilde an expensive dress with. Unlike his wife, M. Loisel appreciates and is thankful for his lifestyle. He knows there’s no use in dreaming for more, and so he’s always accepted his lifestyle without having any burning desires to be wealthy. Mathilde on the other hand, spends so much of her time convincing herself that possessions only have value if they are expensive, that she loses sight of the real value

When she is given the opportunity to dress in extravagant clothing and act like she is wealthy, she found a “sense of triumph that is so sweet to a woman’s heart” (3). Mathilda Loisel’s change from the exposition of the short story to the rising action is dramatic. The reader’s first impression of the character is that she is unhappy and resentful but at the party she comes off just the opposite. She was joyful and “danced wildly, with passion, drunk on pleasure, forgetting everything in the triumph of her beauty” (3). Mathilda Loisel’s true character starts to reveal itself when the reader sees how much value she puts in possessions.

Around the world, values are expressed differently. Some people think that life is about the little things that make them happy. Others feel the opposite way and that expenses are the way to live. In Guy de Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace”, he develops a character, Madame Loisel, who illustrates her different style of assessments. Madame Loisel, a beautiful woman, lives in a wonderful home with all the necessary supplies needed to live. However, she is very unhappy with her life. She feels she deserves a much more expensive and materialistic life than what she has. After pitying herself for not being the richest of her friends, she goes out and borrows a beautiful necklace from an ally. But as she

‘The Necklace’ is a morality tale written by Guy de Maupassant where he portrays the life of a beautiful but dissatisfied girl named Mathilde who desires to live a luxurious life despite being born into a clerk’s family and marrying a clerk too. Mathilde’s discontentment in life instigates her to pretend someone rich that she is not. Moreover, it leads her to severe trouble that caused ten years of hardship to Mathilde and her husband. So, this suffering is a punishment for Mathilde which taught her a lesson and changed her dramatically over the course of the story by making her a person of completely different personality for whom appearances

In addition to being dishonest and full of pride, Mathilde was also a very greedy person. Greed is a terrible trait to have; it makes life much more difficult for the person possessing the trait, as well as the people who are close to them. An example of a person affected by Mathilde’s greed would be her husband, M. Loisel, who loved Mathilde and tried to give her everything she wanted, such as the invitation to the minister’s party. Even though he was merely a clerk, M. Loisel worked hard to get the invitation, thinking Mathilde would love the opportunity to socialize with the aristocrats. He even gave Mathilde the money to buy a fancy dress, instead of spending the dress money for himself, and had the idea for Mathilde to borrow jewels from Madame Forestier.

First, Mme. Loisel is invited to go to a prestigious party because of her husband’s occupation. Conflicted, she longed to go, but the restriction that made her hesitate was her social status and how she would seem in front of the other women. That is to say, Mathilde thought that without an evening dress or a necklace, it would be unsuitable and inadequate to attend the banquet. “It’s embarrassing to not have a jewel or a gem - nothing to wear on my dress.

I feel sorry for Mathilde Loisel, from my understanding of her background “She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, wedded by any rich and distinguished man,” she was destined to live a life she so despised - a lowly peasant. Given the time setting where for women “there is neither caste nor rank: and beauty, grace, and charm act instead of family and birth,” Mathilde Loisel was rock bottom, condemning in my eyes her envy and suffering. Yes, she sounds infatuated on entitlement “she felt made for that. She would so have liked to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after,” In a world depicted like this, women have no real power over their lives, to be either rich or happy it all comes down

The internal conflicts established in “The Necklace” were a result of Madame Loisels perception of happiness. Because of her ungrateful and dejected views on life, she didn’t realize nor recognize true merriment. In the text, Guy De Maupassant shows how Madame “..was one of those pretty and charming girls born as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of

Monsieur Loisel, in contrast, is content with his place in life. He too is proud, but of what he has achieved, not what he desires to be. He does not yearn for dainty dinners but is satisfied with plain cooking: “... her husband, who uncovered the soup-tureen and declared with an enchanted air, ‘Ah, the good pot-au-feu! I dont know anything better than that.’” (Maupassant 1). Monsieur Loisel is happy and shows pride in the simple things in life. He is also proud when he receives the invitation to the ball and cannot understand his wife’s negative reaction to the invitation: “Instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped, she threw the invitation on the table with disdain…” (Maupassant 2). He sacrifices money he has saved to buy a gun so that his wife can buy a suitable dress, but she is still not happy.

She even married a minor clerk, to her distress, who cannot provide what she desires. The way she speaks to him comes off very distasteful and leaves a sour feeling. He likes plain things and seems rather happy for where he is in life, opposite of her. The husband is actually a weak character giving in to others, just like Malthide. Their life was simple. Her home was simple, as well, just like her life. She owned cheap belongings. Except, she didn’t want that. No, she wanted the most expensive items perched in her home, rather than average items.

In Guy de Maupassant’s The Necklace, the main character, Mathilde Loisel, is very materialistic, but in fact, loses her happiness due to it. Although she was in middle class, she has no financial problem with living. Still, she is not satisfied nor thankful for what she was given, and is always pessimistic about her life by comparing herself to her rich friend, Mme Forestier, or believing that fancy, expensive objects such as dress and necklace has the power to control her happiness.

In the short story “The Necklace” by Guy deMaupassant, Mathilde Loisel is a self-centered woman consumed with herself. This trait is emphasized when the nattator explains that Mathilde stops visiting a friend from the paste due to the fact the woman’s wealth makes Mathilde feel beneath her friend. Mathilde’s pride clouds her perception of the valuable treasures in life, for example: love. This trait is again revealed when Mathilde is upset by the party invitation her husband brings home. Loisel is frustrated over her lack of high fashion clothes. She pouts and is dismissive of her husband’s kindness. Finally, this trait is further displayed when Mathilde is expressing her disappointment over not having fancy accessories. Her husband gives

Her persistent mindset of wanting and needing more, is how her internal conflict developed. All of Madame Loisel’s issues relate back to her internal fascination with becoming incredibly rich and valued by her peers. The text states, “She had longed so eagerly to charm, to be desired, to be wildly attractive and sought after.” (1) Madame Loisel’s mindset was simply set on materialistic things and being respected amongst her peers. Even throughout the years, her idea of ‘perfection’ never changed a bit. The story reads, “But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down by the window and thought of that evening long ago, of the ball at which she had been so beautiful and so much admired.” (5) Ten hard and stressful years later, Madame Loisel is still under the impression that everything she has must be beautiful and valued. This situation expresses irony because although she is beautiful, she still feels a desire to receive expensive things. The text states, “She was one of those pretty and charming girls born, as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of artisans… She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury.” (1) Although she is beautiful